New Haven committees review draft HUD action plan, hear wide-ranging CDBG funding requests

The joint Community Development and Health & Human Services committee met Wednesday evening to review the City of New Havendraft FY202627 Annual Action Plan, which would allocate Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME, HOPWA and ESG funds for the coming year, and to hear public presentations from nonprofit service providers seeking continued or new funding.

City housing staff outlined the draft allocations and program priorities, including recommended amounts for public improvements and economic and housing development projects. “We are handling about $16,000,000 in city investment across our pipeline projects,” staff said, and the packet lists recommended line items including a $25,000 allocation for public improvements and a $400,000 recommendation for residential major rehabilitation. The draft also shows proposed program delivery and loan funds for housing development, administrative set-asides and smaller awards for down-payment assistance and energy-efficiency upgrades.

Why it matters: The Annual Action Plan is the cityof New Havenprimary document for distributing HUD entitlement dollars. The committeereview serves as the main public forum for agencies that receive or seek CDBG, HOPWA and ESG funding and shapes amendments before final approval and submission to HUD.

Committee members pressed staff for clarifications on program counts and definitions. One alder asked why the number of people served in elderly-targeted programs declined from one year to the next; staff responded that differences in household size and unit occupancy (persons impacted versus number of units) account for the apparent drop. The committee confirmed that local affordability thresholds in the packet use 80% of area median income as the standard for "affordable" units.

Presenters from more than two dozen nonprofits summarized requests and program outcomes. Highlights included:

- Small Business Resource Center: The manager said the center provided technical assistance, training and access to capital for hundreds of entrepreneurs, citing a recent holiday-village market with 58 New Haven businesses and partnership grants totalling $3.2 million that reached 559 participants; the presentation stated roughly $975,000 of that funding benefitted 149 New Haven businesses.

- Small Contractor Development Program: The office described bilingual outreach and bid-mentoring for minority contractors and said New Haven-based contractors captured about 49% of the cityconstruction spend last year, totaling more than $13 million.

- LCI (property maintenance and code enforcement): Liam Brennan reported proactive maintenance and licensing work under the CDBG grant: roughly 353 tons of debris removed, 170 properties maintained, 29 maintenance liens placed, and monitoring of about 285 vacant properties; Brennan said compliance has improved to the high 70s percentage-wise, leaving about 2,013 properties unlicensed at present.

- Columbus House: CEO Lewis Gail described three requests — HOPWA for people living with HIV, funding to support a seasonal family shelter and rapid rehousing dollars — and urged continued support to keep clients stably housed.

- Fellowship Place: Executive director Mary Guerrero requested $30,000 to sustain expanded evening hours and a peer-support specialist after ARPA funds that currently finance those hours expire June 30.

- NewReach: Jocelyn Antunes (speaking for NewReach) described three requests: approximately $75,000 in ESG to fund a full-time intensive case manager for 18 families, roughly $533,000 in HOPWA for rental assistance for people living with HIV, and about $58,000 in CDBG to support grocery delivery for 500 homebound households.

Several community groups said they are "shovel-ready" for capital projects. Elizabeth Torres said East Rock Lodge has completed environmental review and site entitlements for a proposed 6,000-square-foot community center at 329 Dixwell Avenue and is raising construction funds; she asked the committee for demolition support to clear the parcel.

Procedural notes and next steps: Staff reminded members that May 25 is the submission deadline for amendments, co-chairs will meet with OPMG on May 26 to review proposals, and deliberations are scheduled for May 28. Following public presentations the committee closed the public-comment portion by motion and voice vote and adjourned for the evening.

Quotes selected from the record reflect presentersown wording and were attributed to speakers who identified themselves in testimony or were introduced on the record.

The committee did not take final votes on the action-plan allocations during the meeting; assemblages of amendment proposals and final vote tallies will be available at later meetings when the budget and annual action plan are formally considered and recorded.